Pop 89: Inside Voice Out
By Madonna Hamel
What happened? I asked myself, watching the American election results. How did he get in again? Is it because SO many Americans fear anyone who isn't heterosexual? Or is the issue that SO many white folks hate anyone with shades of colour or shape of the eye other than their own? Is this all about swarthiness? Or accents? (I mean, apart from the flat "o" s of the Midwest and the twang of the South?)
Do too many Americans worship the video game two-dimensional, Old Testament version of God? The God of White Christian Nationalists who resembles more of a bouncer than an opened-armed creator? Are they frightened of all the intelligent Christians leaving the evangelical tribe in droves because they refuse to stoop to naming anyone who isn't a member of their tribe an evil demon? Who are determined to continue heeding the counter-cultural voice of that skinny child-refugee rabbi who did not come to make you rich? Who, in fact, preached that in order "to be complete, you must sell everything."?
Does the election in America again prove that big buckets of money is still the measure of human success? Is the problem that Americans are willing to pledge allegiance to anyone who promises them a shot at obscene wealth despite the sale of one's soul? According to a day-after-the-election Associated Press release," the stock market continued to reach record highs in a post-election bump. Buoyed by Trump's promises of lower taxes and slashed regulations, certain stocks saw massive gains. Companies and commodities associated with Trump and his campaign performed especially well in the wake of his victory: Musk's Tesla reached a $1 trillion valuation, and Bitcoin hit a record high as Trump declared he'd make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet." Oh, and the surge in Tesla stock has made Musk the first $300 billion man.
Maybe the real problem is "uppity women." After all, the last time the president-elect won an election, it was against a woman. And both women had far more qualifications - the most recent having served as an attorney, a district attorney, an attorney general, a senator and a vice president. Is the problem that America is incapable of seeing a woman as its leader? You have to wonder, when a candidate is initially dismissed because of her laugh and her smile. (Have you seen the other guy's shit-eating mug?)
Come to think of it - how to explain female lawyers who defend men who exploit their positions of power to degrade women? Should we not wonder if they haven't implicated themselves in their own gender's exploitation? Hey, ladies, girls and gentlewomen, is it not worth asking ourselves: under what circumstances are we willing to end up becoming self-exploiting - and ultimately self-erasing- bots?
Oh wait, I know the answer to that question: Whatever it takes to get seen- since puberty, we have always wanted the boys to like us. And we will do just about anything to get their attention, which, usually involves pretending. Pretending those heels aren't painful, pretending that dress isn't impractical, pretending the boobs aren't fake. It means going along with absurd and uncomfortable sexual practices perfected and reproduced to a numbing and nullifying degree in porn. It involves spending inordinate amounts of money on goods trying to measure up to increasingly sleazier standards of "beauty" involving lower cleavage, higher hems and longer lashes.
When you consider how often and in how many situations how many smart women "fake it," perhaps it shouldn't be surprising they might go along with their men and fake their presidential pick as well. When men and women overlook demeaning and disturbing references to women's private parts, weight, face, and voice, you have to wonder how deep the internalized sexism goes.
I mean, how many women don't know about the Access Hollywood video wherein the next president of the United States bragged that if he finds a woman attractive (who cares if the feeling isn't mutual), he "dives in." "I don't even wait", he claims. Because "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything."
Just for the record: Any woman who says she likes it when men - rich and famous men, that is - introduce themselves by grabbing them by the crotch she is, a) once again, faking it. Or b) so devoid of self-awareness and esteem that she is willing to convince herself that the gesture is a measure of her lovability and worth. (And, of course, her sexiness, which in our consumer culture is the same as worth.)
It seems every American, whether a politician, celebrity, professor, journalist, labourer, bus driver, teacher, parking attendant, preacher, and even the homeless guy sleeping under cardboard on a park bench, seems to believe that America is "the greatest nation on earth." And not in the way that citizens in other countries feel proud of the place they live, but in a kind of manically grinning, fist-pumping, don't-you-forget-it-bub kind of way. In the same way, consumers at Christmas squeal when they get their mitts on the latest iPhone, X-box and Cabbage Patch doll. So maybe America got what it voted for - a reminder of its particular band of greatness.
Whatever the reason, the result would be different if there was no such thing as social media, which gives everyone an opportunity to speculate and comment on every little and big concern in the world. To give an opinion, whether informed or not. It gave the "inside voice" an outside voice. It gave cowards a platform to spew cruel, malicious attacks and make chilling and terrifying threats without fear of recourse because they've become banal. America's new leader leads in the art of using his most inflammatory, reactionary inside voice on a public platform. And America just gave him the podium.